


You Literally Dropped Onto My Balcony- I Mean Life

by gracefulbirb



Series: Cherik Stories [1]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Angst, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Charles You Will Be Drunk, Erik Has Feelings, Erik is a Sweetheart, F/M, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26363131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracefulbirb/pseuds/gracefulbirb
Summary: “In the early morning, I wake up because I hear something banging around outside. I go to check it out, only to see a random stranger snuggling with my cat on my balcony. Any recollections?” Erik asked, raising an eyebrow.Charles rubbed his temples. “I think it’s coming back to me.”“And then I threatened to kick you out and ended up threatening you with the cutlery and you looked me dead in the eye and said ‘That’s a hell of a groovy mutation’ and something about ‘cats being better than people’,” Erik continued sounding amused.Charles’ ears turned red as he started remembering. “Please stop I think I know now.”“So then I shouted, ‘Get your own flipping cat’ and you broke down into tears.”__________________________In which Charles drops onto Erik's balcony while drunk and ends up dropping into Erik's life at the same time.
Relationships: Alex Summers & Charles Xavier, Azazel/Raven | Mystique (X-Men), Erik Lehnsherr & Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy & Charles Xavier, Hank McCoy/Alex Summers, Raven | Mystique & Charles Xavier, Sean Cassidy & Charles Xavier
Series: Cherik Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915771
Comments: 3
Kudos: 69





	You Literally Dropped Onto My Balcony- I Mean Life

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this sitting around for around a week and was super pleased at the outcome!! The writing process was smoother than usual, most likely due to my amazing Beta called Jay! All mistakes that you might pick up are definitely mine because I added some stuff that she didn't see before I posted!!
> 
> Thanks for checking it out and hope you enjoy!

The smell of freshly brewed tea woke Charles up. He felt utterly terrible and decided to return to sleep, rolling over onto his back.

Only to end up rolling onto the cold hard floor. The  _ cold, hard, metal floor.  _

_ Who the hell had metal floors? _

Charles bolted upright, only to regret it seconds later as his head throbbed and his vision faded in and out through black. He decided to keep his eyes shut instead.  _ What the heck did he do last night? _

“Is Sleeping Beauty finally awake now?” a deep voice with a slight German accent said, sounding fairly amused. Charles fought the temptation to open his eyes to see the owner of that  _ beautiful  _ voice. 

Charles suddenly jolted up again, feeling the thoughts of thousands of people crashing into him as he attempted to get up and open his eyes once again. Charles opened his eyes slowly and stopped just to admire the man in front of him for a few moments. 

“Hungover?” the man inquired.  _ G-d,  _ Charles would happily sink in that voice forever. 

Personally, Charles wouldn’t evade someone’s mind without permission, but he didn’t know if this  _ sexy  _ stranger was good or bad news and ended up diving into his mind just to double check he hadn’t ended up in the house of a serial killer. 

“Hello,  _ Erik _ , isn’t it?” Charles asked, finally allowing himself to appreciate the beautiful man in front of him. 

“That’s right. I guess you forgot what happened last night,”  _ Erik  _ chuckled, the sound low and breathy and Charles didn’t realise how he’d ever live without hearing it again. “So, you’re a telepath?” 

Charles narrowed his eyes, although the man seemed relatively harmless, Charles didn’t want to end up wiping Erik’s mind in the case he was anti-mutant. 

“Yes,” Charles said after a few moments of silence. “What’s it to you?” He was slightly tensed, ready to wipe the man’s memory if anything went wrong. 

Erik sent Charles a disarming grin. “Wonderful, you told me last night, I’m just double-checking,” Erik said. “It’s lovely to meet other mutants.” 

“Ah… wonderful,” Charles said, feeling more at ease. “Is that how we met? I can’t exactly remember. I’m awfully sorry if you said something important, I can’t remember anything.” Charles churned through his own mind. What was the last thing that he remembered? Did he meet this guy at a mutant bar? 

Charles took in the appearance of Erik. He was almost a head taller than Charles, with large shoulders and lean muscle, having the body of an athlete or serious gym trainer. He had brown-reddish hair with stormy grey eyes. If Charles had a type it would be Erik.  Charles wasn’t one to pick up one night stands too often but if it was Erik…well…Charles could make the exception. 

Erik handed Charles a cup of tea which Charles took with a smile but tilted his head slightly in confusion. 

“Ah, I thought you’d like tea because you’re British…and all,” Erik stammered, scratching his head. Charles awarded him with a disarming smile. Erik’s heart skipped a beat. 

“You’re quite right, my friend, I do enjoy tea much more than coffee,” Charles reassured him, sipping at the tea appreciatively. 

“I’m Erik- although you must have gathered that earlier from your telepathy,” Erik said grinning. Charles could practically feel the amusement flowing off the man in waves. “We did introduce ourselves last night - early this morning, actually - but I’m not sure you remember.” 

Charles sipped at his tea, eyebrows drawn in concentration as he tried to remember and fought against the temptation to pluck the memory from the other man’s mind. For once, Charles was slightly annoyed at how being hungover dimmed his telepathic abilities. 

His eyes suddenly widened. “Something about a…cat?” 

Erik chuckled, making Charles shiver again. “Yes, you and my cat became friends last night- early morning.” 

Charles glanced around. “Where’s the said cat?” 

Erik shrugged before pointing to the metal shelf behind Charles.  _ Why does this man have so much metal in his house?  _ Charles thought offhandedly before focusing on the cat. 

A small black cat blinked at them repeatedly from the shelf. 

“Her name’s Angel. I was really surprised that she warmed up to you. She doesn’t usually like anyone, especially me,” Erik said honestly. “She’s actually the reason why I didn’t just kick you out.” 

“No other reason?” Charles asked, raising an eyebrow. Although his telepathy was slowly returning and was minimal at best, he could feel Erik holding back on several thoughts. Erik turned slightly red, bustling back in the kitchen murmuring about how “breakfast was almost ready”. 

“Do you live here, alone?” Charles asked, not wanting to scare away Erik too much. “It’s really modest. Kinda big too.” 

To Charles’ relief, Erik replied from the kitchen. 

“Yes and no, I live here by myself most of the time, but my mom lives here when she’s not travelling.” 

“That’s cool. So, what exactly happened last night?” 

“Just a minute. The food’s almost ready, and I’ll tell you the whole story.” 

Erik busied himself serving breakfast which gave him an excuse to admire the handsome stranger in his apartment. Anyone could have told Erik, Charles was a model and Erik would have believed them. Charles had brown wavy hair and soft features with a fair splattering of freckles although the most striking feature was definitely his eyes, Charles’ eyes were the bluest eyes Erik had ever seen, startling against his pale skin and dark brown hair. The only thing holding him back was Charles’ age, Charles couldn’t have been much older than 18 at most. 

He watched as Charles got up and walked to the kitchen table with a noticeable limp although it didn’t seem so bad that he needed a cane of any sort. Erik silently noted this information down for a later date.  They ate their food mostly in silence before Erik decided to explain. 

“It’s probably a lot more different to how you think I met you. It was really hot last night and since I’m on the seventh floor, I thought it would be fine to leave the door to my balcony open. I guessed it was safe enough.” 

Charles felt himself turn red with embarrassment as he fiddled around with his toast. “Go on,” he encouraged, both dreading and anticipating what Erik would say. 

“In the early morning, I wake up because I hear something banging around outside. I go to check it out, only to see a random stranger snuggling with my cat on my balcony. Any recollections?” Erik asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Charles rubbed his temples. “I think it’s coming back to me.” 

“And then I threatened to kick you out and ended up threatening you with the cutlery and you looked me  _ dead  _ in the eye and said ‘That’s a hell of a  _ groovy  _ mutation’ and something about ‘cats being better than people’,” Erik continued sounding amused. 

Charles’ ears turned red as he started remembering. “Please stop I think I know now.” 

“So, then I shouted, ‘Get your own flipping cat’ and you broke down into tears.” 

“Oh, my lord,” Charles muttered, turning redder than he thought was humanly possible. It had been worse than he’d thought. 

“Then I felt really bad for you, and I realized you were totally drunk, and I know that Angel’s a good judge of character so I hurried you inside the house and got you a glass of water. You were crying about your sister, I think.” 

Charles flinched quite violently but Erik didn’t comment. He didn’t want to scare off Charles. 

“I tried to get your address to send you home but you kept saying Xavier Mansion and I knew that one, that’s over thirty miles away, and two, I didn’t think you lived there,” Erik admitted. “I gave up after around ten minutes of asking and you kinda just passed out on my sofa.” 

“G-d, I’m so sorry,” Charles mumbled, sounding aghast. “I don’t drink much anymore and I don’t remember being much of a lightweight.” 

Erik shrugged. “It’s alright. Seemed like you needed the drink.” 

Charles wasn’t going to deny it. 

Then Erik asked the elephant in the room. 

“So how exactly did you get onto my balcony? I'm on the  _ seventh  _ floor,” Erik asked, genuinely really curious. 

“I climbed down.” 

“Climbed down? Like from the roof?” 

Charles nodded. 

“ _ Mien gott,  _ what the heck were you doing on the roof? It’s nine stories high!” Erik said alarmed, looking at Charles with concern and anger.

“I’m not suicidal,” Charles burst out quickly. “Yesterday was a rough day and to make matters worse I started drinking which was really dumb of me and then I decided to go around on the rooftops with my flying friend, Sean, without my cane, and ended up climbing down the roof to meet your cat because she seemed friendly.” 

“…Is that normal for you?” Erik asked, taking in the information. 

“It’s actually more normal than I’d admit,” Charles commented, sounding a little sad. 

“So, what happened yesterday? Fight with your sister? Ran away from home?” Erik was trying to be sympathetic, but he came out as rather bitter. What could this boy possibly gone through that could be compared to Erik’s pain? 

Charles shook his head, going a little pale, his lips pressed together. 

“Fine, don’t tell me,” Erik grumbled, moving to gather the dirty plates. He didn’t want to come across as someone petty, but he couldn’t help it. 

Charles grabbed Erik’s wrist gently. Erik set the dirty plates back down and focused his attention on the other man. 

“Hey, I didn’t mean-” Erik started apologising but Charles cut in. 

“No…it’s alright,” he responded, looking a lot frailer than Erik had ever seen someone be before. He looked like he could shatter at the slightest touch. 

“I owe you an explanation, afterall, I did crash your night,” Charles said weakly, looking down at his legs. “My sister…she left me alone, after my injury, four years ago, as of yesterday. It was also the same day that my mother committed suicide, seven years ago, as of yesterday.” 

“ _ Mein Gott, _ ” Erik muttered, suddenly filled with guilt. Not knowing why, Erik wrapped his arms around the smaller man, cradling him as if he were a child. 

“I know it’s stupid, but I get so angry, why did she leave me? Wasn’t I good enough as a brother?” Charles sobbed; his voice muffled as he cried into Erik’s shirt. 

“No one should go through that,” Erik said honestly. While Erik’s pain was bad, he knew pain varied in different ways and shouldn’t be compared. 

“I’m sorry, I’m a complete stranger, crying onto a man I barely know,” Charles said, pulling away, rubbing at his eyes furiously. 

Erik opened his mouth to say something before Charles’ phone suddenly started ringing, it’s loud ringtone cutting through the silence. 

“Sorry,” Charles mouthed as he walked over to grab his phone. 

Erik tried to listen in the conversation, but it didn’t seem like Charles was trying very hard to hide the conversation. 

_ “Charles!” _

“Sean!” Charles responded cheerfully to the voice on the other side. 

_ “Dude we were looking for you for hours last night. One moment you were on the rooftop and bam, next moment you’re gone!” _

Charles winced, “Sorry Sean. I met a hot guy though.” Erik blushed at the implication of being referenced as the hot guy before remembering that he was 27 and Charles could only be 18 at most and brushed those thoughts away. 

_ “Alex and Hank are still searching for you!”  _

“Gosh, tell them to stop, I’m perfectly alright!” 

_ “Do you know how many times we called you? Seventy times!” _

“My phone only started up after Erik plugged in my phone for me.” 

_ “Erik? Is that the hot guy you’re with? Hold on Charles, I’m coming!” _

“What? No! Sean don’t you hang up on- And he’s gone,” Charles said, frowning as he stared at his phone, looking vaguely betrayed. “Sorry about that. You were saying?” 

Erik bit back the thought  _ “I think you’re really hot”  _ before remembering Charles was a telepath. 

Charles turned red. 

“Uh…I think you’re hot too,” Charles said blushing. “And for your information,  _ Erik,  _ I’m twenty-three.” 

Erik felt like the skies had opened above him but once again, he was interrupted before he could tell Charles his feelings. A knock sounded from Erik’s balcony and he resisted the urge to face-palm. 

“That your friend?” Erik asked as he pulled the balcony window to reveal a red-headed boy with a weird-looking suit on with wings. 

Charles nodded and waved at the boy.  _ Sean,  _ Erik thought _ ,  _ remembering the boy Charles spoke to on the phone earlier.

Sean waved back, all grins as Erik unlocked the balcony to let the boy in. 

“Prof!” Sean said, launching himself at Charles who could barely keep himself upright as he was barrelled into by the redhead. “You look terrible.” 

Erik bit back the retort “ _ He’s hot as heck”.  _

Charles’ ears turned red, obviously picking up Erik’s thoughts as he slowly detangled himself away from Sean. 

_ “I think you’re terribly hot too.” _

Erik jolted. It sounded like Charles, but Charles was in a deep conversation with Sean- Charles turned to wink at Erik before returning to the conversation with Sean. 

_ “That’s right. It’s me.” _

Cautiously, Erik thought back, “How are you doing that? I thought you could only read minds?” 

_ “I’m an omega-level telepath, I can do things beyond imagination.” _

Erik blinked. A telepath was rare but an  _ omega-level telepath,  _ that was something else entirely. 

Erik suddenly noticed the conversation between Sean and Charles had stopped. 

“You two are flirting, aren’t you?” Sean said accusingly, glancing between both of them. His eyes were narrowed but with no ill intent, just curiosity. “Through the mind link.” 

Charles turned red. 

“I wouldn’t call it flirting, Sean,” Charles started before Sean just smirked. 

“Sure, professor,” he drawled, looking pointedly at Erik. Before Erik could either deny or agree to the claims, the apartment door was knocked on. All three of them glanced at each other. 

“That’s not Alex or Hank, is it?” Charles asked Sean nervously. Sean shook his head. Only he knew where Charles was. Erik scrambled through his mind before remembering, Mystique was coming over to collect her artwork. 

“Ah, don’t worry, I promised my friend to keep some stuff here for her but she’s coming to collect it,” Erik said, remembering. Charles glanced down at his clothes, they were creased and slightly stained. Sean seemed to be thinking the same thing as him. 

“She’ll probably get the wrong idea,” Charles stated. 

To both Sean and Charles’ surprise, Erik just shrugged. 

“Let her assume,” Erik said simply, walking to open the door. Mystique was on the other side in her bright and blue state. “Morning Mystique.”

“Good morning Mag- I mean Erik, sorry still getting used to not using stage names in public,” Mystique responded grinning. “You look like you had a good night.” Erik grinned back at her as he opened the door to allow her in. 

Sean and Charles were in deep conversation as Erik and Mystique entered the apartment. Charles’ eyebrows were drawn in concentration while Sean was saying something quite animatedly. 

As Mystique stepped in the house, it was like a switch had been pulled, Charles’ snapped his head over as if someone had slapped him. 

“...Raven?” he asked quietly, sounding terribly fragile as he looked at Mystique. Mystique turned over, looking surprised and shocked. 

“Charles,” she said softly before looking at Sean and then back at Erik, confusion clearly painted on her face. “What are you doing here? It’s very far from Wenchester.”

Sean looked furious, he stormed over to Mystique, grabbing her by the shirt collar. 

“How dare you?! How dare you show your face in front of Charles after what you’ve done?” Sean shouted, looking furious and upset. Charles looked on, seeming torn between stopping Sean and letting everything unfold. “You walked out on the person who raised you just because you thought he was a “human” and couldn’t understand how you felt? You left him  _ bleeding out  _ to die. You  _ hit  _ him with a car Raven! You didn’t even bother calling for an ambulance! He almost  _ died! _ ” 

“Please, can we all take a moment to calm down,” Erik butt in, he didn’t want a fight to happen although he was itching to find out the truth. 

Charles looked hurt, lost and confused. Sean looked like he was about to lose it. Mystique looked terrified and confused. 

And Erik...well Erik just wanted to ask Charles out on a date. 

And maybe find out whatever the heck that was about.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Chapter Two is in the process of being written and I hope you come back to read it too!
> 
> Please don't forget to leave kudos and comments! They mean the world <333
> 
> Thank chu everyone


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